How to Use Dropbox as a Content Delivery Network for Wordpress

When using my writing workflow I faced a problem, which really bugged me: the need to change the links in the generated HTML.

The Problem

When you write with MultiMarkdown you link to your images locally. When you publish the article on your Wordpress blog you need to upload the images to Wordpress and then manually adjust the links in the Wordpress blog editor. This is cumbersome.

The Solution

The solution is to use Dropbox as a CDN1. Here is what you need to do:

Create a folder within your Dropbox's Public folder where you want to store your images.

Copy the image you want to use in your article to the folder you just created.

In Finder use the context menu and select Dropbox > Copy Public Link.

Use this link in your MultiMarkdown text.

Now, when you generate the HTML from your MultiMarkdown source you do not need to change the link. It is already pointing to the correct location. Nice.

Technically viewed, it is wrong to use the term Content Delivery Network in this context. A real CDN would distribute the content to various locations on the planet to be able to deliver your content faster to the destination. As far as I know, Dropbox stores your content in one location only.

I have no idea whether serving images from your Dropbox is better in terms of loading times, but I can surely say that it is really convenient to use.

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